Classics or "Must reads" that others rave about but you just don't get

[boogiewoogie]

Mine are the following:

The Great Gatsby - I read this a couple of years ago and was disappointed with it and thought I'd missed the point. Gave it another the other day and finished it in 2 days (short book). No, still not getting the hype. No likeable characters either.

Catcher in the Rye- Nothing really happens.

Middlemarch - My fourth attempt at this... I will finish it this time!

The Time traveller's wife - Page turner, yes but "must read", no, no, no!

Started Early, took my dog - I normally love Kate Atkinson and really enjoyed the first three Jackson Brodie books but I found this dry.

The Da Vinci Code - Couldn't get past the first chapter.

[TanteRosmerta]

agree - LOTR, Captain fecking Corelli

didn't even bother trying to read Da Vinci as I knew I would hate it...

I thought I quite enjoyed We Need to Talk about Kevin, but realised afterwards that it gave me a bit of a personality change while I was reading it I was quite horrible for a while....

[LadyClariceCannockMonty]

I really like We Need to Talk ...
All her other books are shite though.

[boogiewoogie]

Second "On Chesil Beach". What an anticlimax!

[KTisPG]

I agree with A Suitable Boy - I've just given up half way through AGAIN! and Captin Correlli, but I love LOTR (but agree you have to skip the songs :o) I also struggle with Dickens except David Copperfield with I really enjoyed.

[KTisPG]

ooo and I forgot Return of the Native, Thomas Hardy. I've tried several times because it's my dads favourite book, but I just can't get into it

[TanteRosmerta]

KT, I finally got through A Suitable Boy after about 3 goes....it was worth it!

[Quenelle]

I loved A Suitable Boy, but I admit I didn't reall all of every couplet...

Also loved The Shipping News and Captain Corelli, and LdB's trilogy.

I would never even start a book about Hobbits, they don't interest me at all.

I read Jane Austen over and over again but have struggled with Dickens and Thomas Hardy. I don't understand what people see in Iain Banks either

[fedupofnamechanging]

Tess of the D'Urbervilles. I wanted to slap her for being so bloody wet and scream at her for thinking that she wasn't good enough for Angel Clare when it was so blatently obvious the he wasn't good enough for her.

Also Hardy was a twat - didn't he spend years treating his wife badly only to hanker after her once she'd died, thereby also treating his second wife badly?

[alewVera]

The yellow wallpaper. That's just plain freaky.

[backjustforaminute]

Gormenghast (sp?) especially the part about the women locked in a room where they hide under the carpet. I managed to read the whole thing but it left the mental equivalent of a nasty taste. Ugh ugh ugh.

[SnoozleDoozle]

Lord of the Rings bored me to tears, and made me realise that I hate made up worlds, things with pointy ears etc. Hated it.

Also was hugely underwhelmed by Wuthering Heights, didn't really get it at all.

Great Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye were ok, I'm glad I've read them, but I don't get what all the fuss is about.......

[Ephiny]

I loved Middlemarch and all Kate Atkinson, but agree about the others. I had the same problem with The Great Gatsby, i.e. finding all the characters unlikeable and not particularly interesting/memorable.

Time Travellers Wife I thought was an interesting concept and well written - but I found the characters boring and quite irritating, so really couldn't bring myself to care at all about what happened to them.

[Kayano]

The lovely bones could have been better.

I can't believe you don't like Gatsby! It is my favourite book!

[babyicebean]

Vanity fair - wanted to murder Becky Sharp or failing that give her a slapping

Gone with the Wind - gave up

All of the Katie Price books - had the misfortune to get given them while in hospital with a bug, the nurse seeing I was unable to sleep lent them to me

Will try most books except the real life ones about abused kids

I have tried war and peace but got totally confused as to who was who

[Jodianna]

I could rant about 'The Curious Incident' for hours. Stupid, inaccurate, badly written book.
Love everything Toni Morrison (Beloved) has ever written.
Agree about Dickens.
The Great Gatsby and Remains of the Day are two of my favourites. Sorry!

[scottishmummy]

any ian mcewan
lovely bones
jodi picoult

[superjobee]

i dont read much of interest classics etc but i really wanted to enjoy catcher in the rye, unfortunately, it took me 3 goes over 5 months and is the most depressingly boring piece of poop ive ever read :( boo.

[stigofthelump]

Catch 22, have no idea what happens as I didn't get past first chapter
Chesil beach
Fugitive pieces
Loved 'talk about kevin' and 'life of pi' though

[scottishmummy]

tsc,yes the tedious meticulous descriptive drone mcewan does is shite

[Mumswang]

Remains of the Day zzzzzzzzzz

[katykoffdrop27]

To Kill a Mockingbird - everyone raves about it but I just didn't think it was "a must read" or classic. Was really disapointed. Would much rather get stuck into a good Jeffrey Archer novel (love him or hate him, he's weaves a good yarn). :)

[StopRainingPlease]

Lots of Catch 22 here - me too, after the first 20 pages the rest is just repeats of the same ad nauseam.

The Turn of the Screw - just didn't get it.

[begonyabampot]

Wuthering Heights - just so bleak and depressing and none of the characters were likable. Might have to try it again many years later though.

The Da Vinci Code - started promising but descended into rubbish and was very disappointing

The Lovely Bones - interesting idea but just didn't work.

Took me a year or so and several goes to read Les Miserables but cried so much and had so much heart but the ending was heartbreaking and disappointing (after everything we had been through) although possibly the only the way it could realistically end. worth wading through but not for the faint hearted.

[begonyabampot]

And also Alice In Wonderland - just annoyed me really.